As an investigator for well over a decade, often employed in a skip-tracing capacity, I’ve learned how a person can disappear (fall off the grid) or modify their public data (perception management). Without delving too much into SEO and other optimization methods hawked on the market, we focus on running our people tracer searches in reverse; i.e., locate the public information available on an individual and then follow the below masking methods. To ensure that a person has successfully dropped off of the grid, we then try to locate them ourselves; determining how well our cloaking measures have worked.

There are basically three steps involved in falling off the grid.

1. Misinformation. There is so much electronically available information on individuals now that turning this data to suit your needs may indeed appear to be a Sisyphean task. (We are not referring to allegedly protected information such as your Social Security Number or credit rating; albeit the latter can be manipulated as well by simply adopting a new identity. We’ll get to that in a later article.) I’m referring to contact information given way too freely to cell phone and cable companies, utilities and even to marketing professionals just to receive nonvaluable products or services.

Solution: Locate and deviate your known information. I.e., Select a letter of the alphabet different from your middle initial or invent one if you don’t have a second name. Open a P.O. Box, directing your street address to that of an identity securer’s physical address. Select a different date of birth. Where and when applicable, use these three new misinformants. As marketers, cable, fraternal organizations… upgrade their selling lists, this new information will begin to be applied to your newer identity. Your old information will begin to drop off of aging consumer lists.

2. Disinformation. Similar to the above but with the direct intent to mislead an aggressive researcher.

Solution: Have your created data result redirected to a different city. Make it as difficult and expensive as possible to have the would-be seeker find you.

3. Necessary contact. So you’ve won the lottery, need to fall off the grid for a while (if only to regain a sense of balance in your life) but you still wish to remain in contact with your family (the real ones and not those having recently spilled out of the woodwork upon news of your winnings).

Who. What.

For the trial law and legal community from a private investigator's perspective.
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